California man accused of groping teen on flight

Mar. 28, 2014
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This image shows Hans Loudermilk, who was arrested March 25, 2014, for allegedly groping and sexually propositioning a teenage girl on a flight from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City. Prosecutors say a 15-year-old girl sitting next to Loudermilk on the flight accused him of touching her chin and rubbing her leg and thigh during the flight. / Salt Lake County Sheriffâ??s Office via AP

by USA TODAY

by USA TODAY

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A California man was taken into custody earlier this week after federal officials say he groped and sexually propositioned a teenage girl on a flight from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City.

Hans Loudermilk, 67, of Oceanside, Calif., was arrested Tuesday at the Salt Lake City airport, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Utah.

A 15-year-old girl sitting next to Loudermilk on the flight accused him of touching her chin and rubbing her leg and thigh during the flight, prosecutors said in a complaint filed in federal court Wednesday.

The girl told the FBI that Loudermilk told her he could teach her things sexually that boys her age could not and said she was old enough to marry him in Utah.

When the flight landed, the girl reported the incident to a Transportation Security Administration officer, prosecutors said.

When Loudermilk saw the teenager speaking with security officers, he entered an airport gift shop, removed his button-up shirt and replaced it with a jacket "to possibly avoid detection by law enforcement," authorities said in court records.

Messages left with Loudermilk's attorney, Benjamin McMurray, were not immediately returned Friday.

Loudermilk was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Tuesday but released two days later to the U.S. Marshal's Service, sheriff's Sgt. Cammie Skogg said.

He made an initial appearance in a Utah court on Thursday.

Melodie Rydalch, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office, said Loudermilk was scheduled to appear in federal court again on Monday morning for a detention hearing.

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